CV

Research

I am currently preparing a monograph for Manchester University Press entitled A North-West Passage: Towards a Mancunian Psychogeography. This book will conduct a ʻdetournedʼ cultural history of Manchester, seeking in to reconnect the notion of ʻpsychogeographyʼ as developed by the French 1960s avant-garde group the Situationist International with the materialist, utopian, and internationalist currents evident in Manchester itself. Because of the potentially wide public audience for such a work, I plan to maximise the economic and social impacts of the research by organising a conference and a series of engagement events on the topic in and around Manchester, with a view to developing an exhibition with a relevant cultural partner to coincide with the publication of the book.

My PhD thesis focused on the poetry and prose of the London-based writer Iain Sinclair, reading his work in through the various interpretations of urban space developed throughout the history of twentieth-century avant-gardism, with particular reference to those of Walter Benjamin as elaborated in The Arcades Project, and the theories of the city articulated by the Situationist International.

More broadly, I am interested in the debates which surround the intersection of modernity, Modernism and the relationship between contemporary art and literature, contemporary fiction, science fiction, and critical theory.

Education

2006-2012 PhD, English Literature and Critical Theory, University of Manchester. Thesis title: Form, Place, and Memory: Materialist Readings of Iain Sinclairʼs London Writing.
Supervised by Dr Daniela Caselli and Professor Bertrand Taithe
2001-2002 MA, English Literature and Cultural Theory, University of Manchester
1998-2001 BA (Hons), English Language and Literature, University of Manchester (2.i)

Publications

Forthcoming A North-West Passage: Towards a Mancunian Psychogeography. Currently under contract with Manchester University Press. Monograph.

Conference Papers

2013 “A North-West Passage: Notes on the Possibility of a Mancunian Psychogeography”. Northern Identities conference, University of Huddersfield.
2008 “Transforming Psychogeography: From Paris to London”. Literary London Conference, Brunel University.

Teaching and Public Engagement

2011-2012 Graduate Teaching Assistant, ʻReading Literatureʼ, University of Manchester.
2008-2009 Seminar leader, ʻReading Capitalʼ, Salford Restoration Office, Manchester. Fortnightly reading group for the discussion of Marxʼs Capital for postgraduate students and artists.
2008 Course designer and lecturer, ʻSituationists and the Cityʼ, Cornerhouse, Manchester.
Eight-week public course exploring the history of the Situationist International.
2007-2008 Seminar leader, Salford Restoration Office reading group.

Literary Consultancy

2013 Sifter, Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award 2014
Sifter, BBC Short Story Award 2013
2010 - Book reviewer, Booktrust
Regular contributer of reviews of new literary fiction, non-fiction, fiction in translation, and childrenʼs fiction titles for www.booktrust.org.uk.

Non-academic Publications and Collaborations

2012 - Editorial board member, Gdansk, international journal of contemporary art and literature. Fellow board members: David Price (The Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, UK), Gary Leddington (HISK, Ghent, Belgium), and Koen Sels (Antwerp).
2012 ʻUtopia and the 2012 Olympicsʼ, in The Art of Dissent: Adventures in Londonʼs Olympic State, ed. by Hilary Powell and Isaac Marrero-Guillamón (London: Marshgate, 2012) (With Rowena Hay). Book chapter.
2010 ʻReflectionsʼ, in Art and Conflict (Aberystwyth: Literature Across Frontiers, 2010). Book chapter.
2008 ‘Drifts’, in Andrew Bracey, Beer (Manchester: Limited Edition Artistʼs Book). Book chapter.
2007 ‘Introduction’, in Under Maintenance (Manchester: Contents May Vary, 2007). Essay for exhibition catalogue.

For my web design work, please see my portfolio.